


Someone to Be Strong For

by OhanaHoku



Series: Whumptober 2020 Prompts [4]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Buried Alive, Claustrophobia, Danny Whump, Danny-centric, Explosions, Gen, Hurt Danny "Danno" Williams, No. 4, October Prompt Challenge, One Shot, One Shot Collection, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Short One Shot, Trapped, Tumblr Prompt, Whump, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, Worried Steve McGarrett, caged, collapsed building, dark themes, mentions of human trafficking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-05
Updated: 2020-10-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26828029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhanaHoku/pseuds/OhanaHoku
Summary: Danny is once again trapped beneath a collapsed building, only this time, he has someone beside Steve keeping him company.Day Four of Whumptober 2020 - Running Out of Time - Caged, Buried Alive, Collapsed Building
Relationships: Danny "Danno" Williams & Other(s), Steve McGarrett & Danny "Danno" Williams
Series: Whumptober 2020 Prompts [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949965
Comments: 10
Kudos: 57





	Someone to Be Strong For

**Author's Note:**

> Day Four of Whumptober, and I'm still going strong, guys! Hope you all enjoy this one! Triggers are in the tags.

Danny Williams looked around the basement he was standing in and shook his head sadly. The walls were lined with twenty-five cages that only an hour ago held twenty-eight people, victims of human trafficking. It had been a miracle that they’d managed to save them, though, from the tales of the rescued, four others had slipped through their fingers just the night before.

Everyone else had already exited the building, but Danny had stayed behind, needing a minute to compose himself after imagining Grace in the position of the teenage girls they’d found.

Something caught his eye, and he knelt down in the entrance of one cage, reaching into the folds of a tattered and stained blanket to grab a small children’s toy. The stuffed animal had fluff spilling out where one ear was missing, and its tongue hanging out in a happy smile that seemed to belie the heavy atmosphere of the modern-day dungeon.

None of those that had been rescued were under the age of sixteen.

He pressed his lips together and ran a thumb over the dirty fuzz of the toy, silently vowing to return it to its owner once they found the four that they hadn’t reached in time.

←⇐⇚⇛⇒→

The first thing that Danny registered as he regained consciousness was Steve’s voice crackling through the walkie talkie strapped to his vest. The second thing was that he couldn’t see anything, but could feel from the grating in his throat that the air was full of dust.

Feeling bruised, but overall okay, Danny grabbed at the handheld and pushed down the transmitting button, answering his friend’s insistent calls with a mutter of his name.

There was a relieved laugh on the other line as Steve spoke. “Danny! You’re alive, are you hurt?”

Danny shifted and froze as he realized he had very little room to move around in. “I’m fine, what happened?” He asked, lifting a hand to rub at his head. He remembered kneeling next to that cage, but everything after that was dark.

“There was an explosion. We don’t know what caused it, but the fire department is here, so we’ll get you out as soon as we can, Danno.”

“Okay.” Danny sighed as he fished his phone out of his pocket, glad to see it was still working as he used it to light up his surroundings. What he saw wasn’t encouraging.

The explosion seemed to have thrown him into the cage. It had likely saved his life, or he would have been crushed by the concrete and steel around him. A few smaller pieces of rubble were in the cage with him, which was likely how he got his bruises, along with a good jostling from the explosion.

He quietly swore as he started feeling the claustrophobia kicking in, his chest tightening, and shut his phone off quickly. He wasn’t scared of the dark, so maybe if he couldn’t see the confined space, his chest would loosen.

But his breathing only got worse as he realized that the cage could fold in around him before he even knew it if the lights were off. He quickly turned the light back on, looking up at the bars of the cage as he started to recite the new season’s batting roster.

←⇐⇚⇛⇒→

An hour later, Danny was still stuck. They were having trouble reaching him without compromising the safety of the rescue workers.

Ditching the method of reciting the lineup, Danny looked around, spotting a bit of fuzz poking out between the pieces of rubble around him. He leaned over a little and plucked the toy from the debris, setting it on his chest as he leaned back. How often had the small child that owned it clung to it for comfort when the walls of the cage felt like they were closing in on them?

“I bet you wanna get out of this place, too, huh?” Danny asked, voice rasping from the dust he’d been inhaling over the past hours. “Probably been stuck in this cage for way too long, right?”

He sighed, reaching up to rub at his eyes. How often did the child speak to the toy as Danny had taken to doing?

His eyes lowered to stare at the daunting 9% of battery power left on his phone, making his panic skyrocket.

He swallowed thickly and glanced at the stuffed animal that was standing next to his phone. “Don’t suppose you have a flashlight on you?” The plastic eyes stared back at him, and Danny sighed. “Didn’t think so.”

←⇐⇚⇛⇒→

They were plunged into darkness.

Steve hadn’t checked in, and Danny was hesitant to contact him, unsure if he could handle any more bad news. His heart was racing, and his stomach felt as though it was playing jump rope with his intestines. His chest was tight, and his breathing was too shallow as his panic tricked him into thinking he needed to conserve oxygen.

He wasn’t even talking to the toy now, though he was holding it close, hugging it tight to his chest. His thumb moved back and forth over the dusty but soft fabric, and occasionally he would think he must look a laughable sight. A grown man cuddling a stuffed animal as if it could make things better.

It was childish… But in a way, it did help. He didn’t feel completely alone. Which was ridiculous. It was just a toy, after all, nothing but stitching and stuffing with a little plastic nose and two plastic bead eyes. It wasn’t alive. It couldn’t consciously offer comfort.

But with a little imagination, something so many adults leave behind as they grow up, the toy could give comfort. It could become a companion, a friend to cling to, someone to go through trials with, someone to be strong for.

“It’ll be soon, buddy. Just a little longer.” Danny whispered, closing his eyes. He leaned down to press the faintest kiss against the toy’s head. “Just a little longer.”

←⇐⇚⇛⇒→

Three days later, Danny sat in his office, looking down at the toy in his hands. Its fur had been gently washed, its ear stitched to keep the stuffing inside.

A gentle knock against the doorway announced Steve’s presence, and Danny looked up at his friend, who had not even once made fun of Danny when he found him clinging to the toy as he was rescued. “You ready, Danno?”

The detective glanced back down at the toy and returned its happy smile. “Yeah, I’m ready.”

Steve nodded and left silently.

Danny ran his thumb over the toy’s short fur one last time and nodded. “It’s time. Let’s get you back to your owner, bud.”

←⇐⇚⇛⇒→

The detective watched as the little girl hugged her toy, the child overjoyed that Mikey had been returned to her.

She looked up at the detective, and there were tears in her eyes. “Mikey made the bad things go away.” She whispered.

As her parents led her away, Steve spoke up next to him. “He did that for you too, didn’t he?”

Danny glanced at him but saw no judgement on his face, only sincere concern and curiosity. “He did.” He answered though he didn’t expound on the thought.

“Are you okay?”

Danny blinked and realized that he was crying. He reached up and wiped the tears away quickly. “I will be.”

He looked at the toy that almost seemed to be staring at him from over the girl’s shoulder and smiled, nodding. “I will be.”

**Author's Note:**

> Word Count - 1248. I really didn't intend for this story to be so cute. Really, it was going to be angsty and feature a much more panicky Danny, but then this happened instead... And I regret nothing. <3 Let me know if you guys like the result! And keep an eye out for more Hawaii Five-0 fics from me during this Whumptober! ;D
> 
> Also, Mikey is based off a toy we had as kids! I couldn't find a perfect reference for it, but it was similar to these pictures. [Picture 1](https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/184169644483_/105-Corgi-Puppy-Dog-Plush-Aurora-Tan-Standing.jpg) and [Picture 2](https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/382594625495_/Aurora-World-Miyoni-Corgi-Plush-Toys-Games.jpg) Isn't it cute?
> 
> P.S. I post fic recommendations on my [tumblr](https://ohanahoku-ao3.tumblr.com/) so go check it out. ;)


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